Welcome back to another episode of health hacks as I continue exploring what I have talked about in my various health hacks throughout all of 2024 and today, I want to talk about nutrition, and in particular, exploring buying local produce, because buying locally isn't just good for the environment. It's good for our body as well. You see when we are eating seasonally, which is how we were always supposed to eat, and how our body is designed to thrive, we are getting fresher, more nutrient dense food into our bodies, and it supports our local markets. It supports the environment in the sense that when we get what is available locally, we aren't incurring massive environmental impact of transporting produce from miles and miles and miles away, and also our digestive system aligns naturally with the rhythms of seasonal eating, which supports our gut health. In addition to that, when we are eating foods that we're buying in our local stores, they have often come from far away, and as a result of the fact that they have traveled for miles and miles and miles to get to the store, and when they get to the store, the store wants them to look really pretty and perfect, so that you want to buy it. In order for all of that to happen, food has to actually be picked really early off the vines and from the ground, and when it's picked really early, it hasn't had a chance for the nutrients to grow into the food, and as a result, that is why it has less nutrients in it when it is picked earlier, and has traveled longer distances to get to us, and then, so that it's timed To be ripened perfectly when it's in the store. Then, if you were to buy locally, where it can stay in the ground or on the vine longer and have more nutrients grown into that produce, so that you are getting the benefit of that when you are eating that food. And if you would like to go back and check out some previous episodes, I haven't talked specifically about buying locally before. However, I've talked about gut health in episodes around 484 for quite a few episodes there. I've also talked about various nutrients that we need in our in order to thrive and that are lacking, and that starts around episode 430 so you can go back and check out those episodes if you would like to know more about the nutrients that humans are very often lacking, as well as learn more about gut health.